From a talk I gave in 2009, upon moving into my current ward:

I. Introduction:

With the convenience of modern medicine, doctors can counter seasonal allergy attacks by injecting the patient with tiny doses of the particular allergen over a long period of time. This process slowly desensitizes the patient’s body to the specific allergen, even though their doses continued to increase.

Much like this method of treatment, Satan deviously introduces many immoral “allergens” into our lives through the media and entertainment. His intent is to desensitize our hearts and dull our spirits so that the evils of the world are less noticeable over time. Once successful, he continues to barrage us with the intent to “ensnare the hearts of men” (Alma 28:13). The majority of these evil pollutants can be found in movies, music, television, the Internet, books and magazines.

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In my ward I am the Aaronic Priesthood adviser. I teach the young men, ages 12-18, a lesson each week about being bearers of the priesthood and how to be righteous boys who will turn into righteous husbands and fathers.

The first Aaronic Priesthood lesson of this year was on Who Am I? Since the beginning of each new year often brings New Year’s resolutions, I led off with instructing the boys that sometimes the best resolutions we can make are not necessarily the ones that others can see. While the stereotypical resolutions of “go to the gym,” “lose weight,” and “stop smoking” are noble pursuits, cleaning the inner vessel is possibly more important as it affects our spirituality and can help bring us closer to God.

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